“Nova Scotians are looking to our party for leadership,” McNeil said at the Dartmouth Sportsplex, the same place he launched his leadership campaign. “We can no longer continue to divide ourselves or we will remain the worst performing economy in our country.”

Ignatieff and McNeil both criticized the federal and provincial governments for dividing Nova Scotia and Canada.

“I wasn’t looking to be the premier of Halifax (or) of Cape Breton,” McNeil said. “I was looking to be the premier of Nova Scotia.”

Nearly 300 supporters swayed signs and chanted during the rally.

Ignatieff spoke about the television ads put out by the federal Conservative party, which portray him as “just visiting” Canada.

“Stephen Harper doesn’t get to decide who’s a good citizen and who isn’t,” he said, referring to other Canadian citizens living out of the country. “Are they less Canadian? I don’t think so.”